Tackling Solutions

What You Must Do To Improve Tackling In Your Program
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Editor’s Note: Due to the overwhelming response we’ve received from coaches on the issue of tackling, we are currently working with a group of coaches to publish a series of tackling improvement articles this off-season.

Ok, so we’ve identified the problem. But how do we fix it? Each coach has their own suggestions as to how to improve our tackling dilemma, but we found that it can be broken down into three distinct elements of improvement – position-specific tackling, teaching more team-related tackling concepts and re-working the open-field tackle. They’re areas that may have been neglected in the past, but the advent of the spread is getting coaches to rethink their methods.

Compartmentalize Individual Tackling
How many times will a defensive tackle make a play in the open field? Granted, with the structure of zone blitzing today that may not be an unlikely scenario. But the percentages of a defensive back making a goal line tackle are rare, so why do we practice it? Many teams, particularly at the high school level, conduct tackling circuits where players rotate through generic stations such as an angle tackle, goal line tackle, open-field tackle, etc. Everybody does them, and they are wasting valuable reps and valuable practice time working on techniques they rarely execute in a game.

Chuck Clemens, the co-defensive coordinator at the University of Central Missouri breaks down tackling into specific genres such as the profile, the shimmy, near foot, thigh board and one arm. After he’s taught the approach and contact, or hit-up phase of tackling to everyone on his squad, he has each individual coach work on the position-specific drills that will carry over to their groups. Defensive lineman work on the one-arm tackle (See Image 1), linebackers help prevent over pursuit by drilling the near foot tackle (See Image 2), as well as work with the defensive back on the shimmy or open field tackle (See Image 3) and profile hit (See Image 4). For smaller defensive backs that need to make plays on a larger ball carrier, they work the thigh board tackle (See Image 5). Clemens believes there is no wasted time or reps in practice and he even incorporates some of those movements in his individual sessions during practice.

“I go to these clinics and hear offensive line coaches be so specific on how they teach the inside zone step. Everything is down to a direct science. Yet when we teach tackling, we are never specific enough in terms of classifying exact tackles,” says Clemens. “Each tackle has a different approach and you have to rep each one differently. It’s an entirely new vocabulary so that when watching my players on tape I know exactly where their deficiencies are. It’s the same type of deficiencies that major college programs have at their level.”

It is these same concepts that Clemens will work in his off-season program where his players will actually work the technique of tackling on air or on each other with no pads on. “We’ll just get them in the balance phase and the strike phase continuing to work their feet,” says Clemens. “As defensive coaches we are all concerned about injury so we have to go with what we are able to use. As long as it’s not creating injury because we are working everything on air. We need time other than the season to work on this because of all the different concepts that offenses are using these days. We’ll even work it during pass skelly where we’ll have players integrate the concepts of tackling without hitting someone. For example, if I see the side of his body, it’s a profile tackle and I’ll attack it a certain way. Or, if I see his belt buckle it’s an open field tackle, so I’ll attack that by using a shimmy. Every tackle has a specific name and a technique associated with it.”

Focal Tackling
Defensive coaches find a way to coach pursuit and they each have their different methods of doing so. We all know that pursuing the football is essential to tackling, but more coaches at higher levels are stressing how the pursuit ties into tackling. It has become less about running with reckless abandon to the football and more about teaching the technique of focal tackling, or where your support is. “The most important thing in tackling is understanding angles and where your help is,” says Ron West, the linebacker coach at Clemson. “We call that fencing the football. The biggest thing to know now is where you fit on the tackle. When kids get to this level a lot of them don’t understand that they will not make all the tackles themselves. Mainly their job is to push the ball back to pursuit. But they have to get taught how to do that.”

What West has done to work this is use his fence drill. It’s mainly a drill on teaching angles to the football and where each player fits on the tackle. It’s less about a one-on-one situation – getting more guys involved in the tackle is the way to negate the speed of the spread. “Basically you always have three types of players coming in to fence the ball. You have a player coming outside in which is known as your post player who sets the outside post of the fence. You have your inside-out player who sets the inside post of the fence, and then you have your point player who will fit inside both of those players. This all depends on the type of coverage you are using. We started doing this more now because it is such a space game with everyone getting the ball on the perimeter. We have to learn how to leverage the ball.”

According to West, the coverage always dictates which players will surface. “Let’s say you play a two-deep concept (Diagram 1) and you get a bubble screen thrown your way. Your flat players are always your outside fence, which in this case would be your corners. An outside players’ aiming point on the tackle is squeezing the outside tip or outside pec of the ball carrier. He can’t let the play bounce outside of him. He fences the outside half of the ball. The next guy inside, which in cover-two would be the outside backer, will fence inside-out. His aiming point is always the inside hip of the ball carrier. The guy over the top of the play, which would be the deep half safety, would be the point player. He sets the point and comes downhill and closes the distance quickly. When you use a different coverage, such as cover three, the fits on the tackle change (Diagram 2). Here the flat player is the outside linebacker so he would be the outside fence. The next guy, which would be your inside backer, is your inside fence. The corner in three deep would be the top part of the fence.”

Todd Orlando, the defensive coordinator at UConn, uses the same type of methodology of fitting tackles by positioning. “A lot of kids don’t understand that in today’s game of speed you need to find help when making tackles. No one really does it alone now unless you play straight man coverage where you have a guy for a guy on every snap,” said Orlando. “Nobody in their right mind matches up and plays cover zero with spread teams for threat of the big play. When you play a two-back team everything is easy because things are in front of you. The biggest thing that has changed is the overall numbers of people getting involved in the tackle. When you have QB’s that can run as ball carriers the offense can block with ten and still keep that QB as a threat. Everyone is accounted for defensively.

“Our rule of thumb is to try and get at least 1.5 men to leverage the football on the point of attack. You have to have a scheme devised that allows you to do that. You always have your force player, depending on coverage that needs to be aggressive in forcing the ball. Most of the schemes we come up with have that principle in having a solid force player and at least one-half of a defender unblocked at the point of attack, without having someone get off a block. It’s a leverage game and you need to find out how to outnumber them. That’s where speed comes in. That’s why people are recruiting corners to play safety and linebackers that can play defensive line.”

Revamping the Open Field Tackling Technique
Without question, it’s the open-field tackle itself that has required the most attention the past few years. It’s where many defensive coaches have found they are spending most of their time. Because the spread offense gets their best players in space, defenses are forced to cover the entire field. While there can be different approaches to teaching the open-field tackle, at least now many coaches are becoming systematic with their teaching progressions. The most common denominator between the coaches we have spoken with is the importance of closing the distance between the tackler and the ball carrier. “We always talk about space tackling in our open-field situations. The hardest thing players have to do is control the body and continually work their angle to the ball,” said Orlando. “We always talk about closing on the V of the neck of the ball carrier and cutting down his angle. The quicker you get on him the less time he has to process the cut. A lot of guys throw or begin the strike phase of tackling way too early. They are more concerned about that than getting to the ball. The more ground you close the more uncomfortable a spot you put them in.”

West takes it one step further by actually teaching when to begin the throw, or strike phase in the open-field. “We talk about stepping on toes in the open-field,” says West. “Tackle through the ball carrier. We talk about finishing through and keeping your chest up. Get hip-to-hip. Keep everything under control and secure the tackle. Come to balance and buy time for help to come. We rake everything up and grab cloth and run your feet.”

Perhaps nothing is more important than bringing your feet in the open field. Too many defenders create a stalemate in the open-field by either getting juked by a back or not moving their feet through contact. “So much of tackling is feet,” says Frank Spaziani, defensive coordinator at Boston College. “When we bring our feet, we talk about scraping the dog crap off our shoes. We like to shimmy down by taking short chopping steps on our approach. You can’t teach the break down anymore because their feet are stagnant; guys just are too quick these days. We’ll even incorporate the technique into our team periods as well where we’ll have our guys shimmy their feet down and tag off on ball carriers at the belt buckle. At least it gets them running through the tackle and keeping their feet live.”

Clemson’s Ron West • Linebacker Coach

4 Stress Points of Tackling:
1. Eyes – See what you hit
2. Target – Aiming Point
3. Club and Rake Up – Wrap up
4. Feet – Finish

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HOW TO FIX TACKLING’S 5 MOST COMMON ERRORS

Error 1: Lunging with their arms when making a tackle, no power base.

Solution: “We always over-emphasize moving your feet to get you in a position to make a tackle. Lunging is lazy. Kids need to keep their hips in line and underneath them. We’ll do a drill that will have them keep their feet moving in a breakdown position - then have them move their feet, not their arms to get them in a position to make the tackle. We want to take a flat step with all our cleats in the ground and get it through the ball carrier,” Mark Stoops, Arizona.

Error 2: Beginning the strike phase of tackling too early.

Solution: “Again, we talk about closing ground first and foremost. We always talk about closing – getting within three steps of the ball carrier before we begin our strike phase. We want to scrape tight off the hip. If a RB starts to chop down preparing to juke, we stay on our course. We can’t chop down with him. We need to close and be prepared to take a giant chunk out of him if we can’t bring him down,” Todd Orlando, UCONN.

Error 3: How to execute the correct angle on a tackle – cutback or force.

Solution: “We miss a lot of what we call profile tackles – when we see the side of a defender – mainly because we over pursue and he cuts back. Regardless of where I am on the field as a tackler, if I am a cutback tackler I should always have an inside hip track inside-out on the ball carrier. If he cuts back, I got my shoulder on his hip,” Chuck Clemens, University of Central Missouri.

Error 4: Missing a tackle in space to a better athlete.

Solution: “We teach the three H’s – head up, use of hands, and roll your hips. We talk about cutting the tackle. We’ll take our shots and cut them down. You need to get them to change direction. If you get a player off the edge and you break down, you’ll miss. A tackle is still a tackle as long as he’s on the ground. Cutting the thigh board is tough to simulate in practice, but extremely effective in games,” Bubba Schweigert, defensive coordinator, Southern Illinois University.

Error 5: Leading with the head and not with the eyes.

Solution: “This is more of a problem at the high school level with the kids that come up to us because in the NFL they are so strict with their spearing fines. But they need to learn to lead with their eyes on the tackle and bull their neck. It is cliché but they need to see what they hit before contact. They have to keep their feet and hips underneath them at all times. Younger kids have a constant problem of dropping their eyes and then tackling too low,” Ron West, Clemson.

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